6 Rules to Respect When Bidding for Projects

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No matter how skilled is someone or if he works in a web design agency or as a freelancer, his success depends entirely on the projects paid by clients. Having no monthly income is a disaster and the bills are, quite probable, unpaid and with each new day, the situation is worsening constantly. Dealing with clients is very difficult, each one want the best products or services at the lowest price; the issues are bigger when they don’t know or are very unsure about their needs.
Many designers are regarding the social skills as unnecessary in school but once they evolved from students to employees the situation becomes totally different. Many times the best projects are awarded to the ones that promote and convince the clients while being very talented; but expecting the clients to come to you is a wrong mentality. Unfortunately, getting in touch with some potential customers isn’t equivalent of getting hired or gaining money. Many projects or clients may be lost during the preliminary discussions or even in more advanced stages and it means that lot of time is wasted by both sides.
To prevent these unwanted facts the tips bellow are mandatory and the success is a little more closer by everyone who respect these. On the other hand, the strict obeying of the ideas isn’t a sufficient condition to get clients. The quality of the services provided, the good collaboration with the clients and the prompt reactions to their requirements are irreplaceable, hence don’t expect to find here a miraculous salvation formula.

Select your clients (tough decision)

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It’s wrong, immoral and it shouldn’t be applied in practice to consider all the potential clients as people who want to profit from you but is also wrong to not treat them sometimes suspiciously. Some people interested in design services expect to have the best solutions offered almost for free or at very low costs; surely all want this but the majority are aware that something really qualitative deserves a serious payment. In conclusion, don’t be super-enthusiast that a person contacted you, pay more attention to the first signs and be suspicious to any quite attractive offer. A signed contract is the best but, the experience will make everyone separate bad clients from good ones. As designers willing to have many clients, the politeness and diplomacy are a must; it doesn’t matter how rude or insidious are the people mailing or speaking to you, respect your standards. Only in this context a serious brand is evolved.

Plan ahead according to your schedule

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The existence of a credible planning and a conscious following of it are other important entities to respect. 100 good testimonials aren’t widespread as effectively as a decent opinion of a unsatisfied clients. Before accepting any project, any designer should know that experimenting on other’s websites is a dangerous “sport.” Any client must know from the start that his project must wait, there are some in queue, and the availability of the designer is strictly depending on the finalization of these. The avarice of getting many projects is the base of a self-destructive attitude in accepting impossible deadlines and of course, sooner or later one of these won’t be respected. This kind of honesty, to inform the clients about the availability is always appreciated.

Let people know your demands and manner of work

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Each one of us is special and his own features make him stand more or less apart from the common prototype. The flexibility is a common feature of the designers, but there are some that have special requirements. To avoid any problems and misunderstandings, it is highly recommended to be very open and explain to the future clients that i.e., you need more time to do their projects but the final result will be better than expected.

Inform clients from the start about your scores

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Whether we like it or not, we are again talking about money. The actual economical climate makes everyone think twice about each dollar spend and this attitude may be positive but may also create a difficult climate to communicate. A wise designer isn’t a grabber and explains to everyone that his job isn’t one for the kids and the payment is fully justified. Personally, I consider that it is better to study something new or deepen into a field than working for someone just for few dollars that is very different from voluntary work.

Offer the best in all your projects

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Once he has accepted a project, the respective designer knows that first is his fame that may suffer the most and that a bad reputation is synonym with bankruptcy. Being honest, in the preliminary discussions it is unlikely to totally disappoint a client but it isn’t a fixed rule. Each project must be regarded as a new brick that build the brand and a bad basis can’t support a grandiose construction. Consequently, try the best in each work you do; it’s the only way to evolve!

Try to have an active dialogue with the clients

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The huge majority of the misunderstandings between clients and service providers may be resolved with a more active dialogue. It’s This scenario is common: the client doesn’t fully understand the idea of the designer but has 100% trust in him. The designer tries to satisfy him but the client wants to see only the final project. When presenting the project, the client is not satisfied and ask for some modifications and that means time and the designer can’t waste it because other clients are waiting. More important: both the customer and the client had good intentions. Clearly, a dialogue and a strong collaboration is the remedy that doesn’t allow these kind of things to happen.

Conclusion

Apparently, by guiding upon these tips it is quite probable to lose some clients. It is true. The good news that the lost clients are the ones that won’t pay or are a real grind and of course it is better to not collaborate with them. The last advice: it is ten times more beneficial to have a correct client that appreciates the good work than ten that are evasive and don’t met your standards.

About The Author

Lief is a creative designer, blogger and iPhone app developer. He works for several companies as freelancer contributing brushes, filters and helping designers across blogosphere. In his free time he competes with logo contests at LogoArena to showcase his talent, In fact he won few contests too.He is one of our regular guest authors here at DesignBeep

One Response

As I am one who is more into hiring than bidding and developing project I know the opposite side as you have described. The main thing to keep in mind is to read all requirements before bidding or doing anything about it.

Most freelancers just bid without reading whole job ad and you end up repeating yourself for each and every bidder.